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By Courtesy F. EDWARDS & CO., londcn. 



The Life of a Christian 

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SHORT STUDIES IN 
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 



BY 

CHARLES MERCER HALL, M.A. 

Rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Kingston, New York 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

THE BISHOP OF MILWAUKEE 



LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO 

91 and 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 

LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 

1907 



Copyright, 1907, by 
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND 1 



*1 



« 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDise Received 

IIAK 29 1907 

yr Cswrlifht Entry J 
CLASS, /* XXc'No M 

/t rfc/f 

CClHY B. /• 



TAe Plimpton Press Norwood Mass, U.S.A. 



C&at is &botoe <0terp iBame 



PREFACE 

THIS little book contains a series 
of short chapters on the spiritual 
life — the life of righteousness. 

The spiritual life is the life of the 
soul, whether in the world or in the 
cloister. It is the real life of the Chris- 
tian, the atmosphere in which he 
breathes. The religious life is, tech- 
nically, the vocation of those who live 
in the cloister, under special vows. 

As the artist needs a model for his 
ideal, and the implements of his craft 
ere he can work, so the Christian re- 
quires a model, an ideal, implements 
or means by which he may attain his 
end. He finds his Ideal in Jesus 

Christ, his model in the life of the 

[vii] 



PREFACE 



Sacred Humanity; his implements in 
the various sacraments and other means 
of grace provided in Holy Church; the 
power for all in the life of the living 
Christ. He must seek in order to find, 
he must lose himself to find himself. 
He must study the great Book of Life, 
the Cross. There is no short and easy 
road to heaven — the road is steep and 
the way is rough, but it is the way of 
our Lord — the way of the Holy Cross. 
In these pages the writer has sought 
to set down what he hopes may help 
some traveller onward; as well as to 
make a humble offering to the library 
of devotional theology. The subjects 
have not been elaborated to any extent, 
as it is hoped they may be used as a 
basis for meditation and study. 

Holy Cross Rectory, 

Kingston, New Tork, Lent, A.D. 1907. 



[ viii ] 



INTRODUCTION 

WE can never have too many good 
books dealing with the spiritual 
life, and I know of no book that exactly 
takes the place of The Life of a Chris- 
tian. I hope, and do not doubt, that 
it will be helpful in instructing souls 
in the Faith and in leading them on 
in the spiritual life. In these days of 
unrest, anything that will strengthen 
one's hold on the Incarnation, and 
make one realize how one's whole 
spiritual life depends on a proper con- 
ception of the Faith once delivered to 
the Saints, should be helpful. This 
little book speaks with no uncertain 
voice ; may it comfort and help many 
souls. 

* Wm. Walter Webb, 

Bishop of Milwaukee. 
The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin, 1907. 

[ix] 



CONTENTS 



I. THE CROSS 

II. THE WAY OF FAITH .... 

III. THE WAY OF HOPE .... 

IV. THE WAY OF LOVE .... 
V. THE WAY OF PRAYER, PRIVATE. 

VI. THE WAY OF PRAYER, PUBLIC . 

VII. THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (i) 

VIII. THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

IX. THE WAY OF PENITENCE 

X. THE WAY OF CONTRITION . 

XI. THE WAY OF CONFESSION . 

XII. THE WAY OF AMENDMENT . 

XIII. THE WAY OF PERSEVERANCE 

XIV. THE WAY OF MYSTERY . 
XV. THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY . 

XVI. THE CROWN 



9 
l8 

22 

29 

37 
43 
54 

67 

73 
78 

9i 
96 

101 

no 

119 



[xi] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 
CHAPTER I 

THE CROSS 

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross 
of our Lord, Jesus Christ* GALATIANS vi, 14. 

THE shadow of the Cross falls 
athwart every life. Our first 
cry is a cry of pain. As a little child 
totters towards you with its unsteady 
steps and outstretched arms, the shadow 
of the Cross goes before him. Suffering, 
sorrow, pain, sickness, death are ever 
present witnesses of the consequences 
of sin. To be a Christian, one must 
be willing to suffer, to bear. Jesus 
says, If any man will come after me, 
let him deny himself, and take up 
his cross daily, and follow Me. 1 The 

1 St. Luke ix, 23. 

[«] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

imitation of Christ is no child's play. 
He who would be a disciple of Jesus 
must look forward to the time when he 
shall be conformed to His death. The 
fear of death is a natural impulse of 
the human heart. Death is always a 
strange mystery, that never loses one 
whit of its grim fascination. It is the 
loss of vitality. It is the wages of sin. 
The Cross is spoken of as the Book 
of Life, the Mirror of the Christian, the 
Magnet — I, if I be lifted up from the 
earth, will draw all men unto Me. 1 The 
Cross is the Throne of Mercy, the Wit- 
ness of Love, the Measure of Sin, the 
Fountain of Merit, the Object of Desire, 
the Source of Compunction. God incar- 
nate is the center of all things; so the 
Cross is the center of the universe. The 
world knows Jesus as an historic figure 

1 St. John xii, 32. 



THE CROSS 



of the centuries; we know Him as our 
Saviour and Friend, as u God in flesh 
made manifest." The world looks upon 
the Cross as an ancient symbol of tor- 
ture : we look upon it as a Tree of Glory, 
Crux est me a Lux. At the Cross we 
find our God, a strength to the poor, 
a strength to the needy in distress, a 
refuge from the storm, a shadow from 
the heat. 1 Like mariners tossed about 
on the waves of this troublesome world, 
we yet behold the beacon of the Cross, 
from which the Light of the World 
calls the weary and heavy-laden to a 
harbour of safety — the haven where 
we would be. 

Evil is a principle, the principle of 
variance and disobedience. Satan's 
personality is that of a fallen angel — 
he is the prince of the power of the air. 2 

1 Isaiah xxv, 4. 2 Ephes. 11, 2. 

[3] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

It is not easy to fight in the air. A great 
diabolical personality controls and di- 
rects the powers of darkness. The life 
of a Christian is one of warfare against 
the prince of darkness. Satan fears the 
Cross, and its adherents, for he knows 
that his time is now short, that the 
Cross is the symbol of his defeat, and 
of the overthrow of his power. We may 
not parley with him; he is our adver- 
sary, a liar and the father of lies. 1 In 
our daily struggle we wrestle not against 
flesh and blood, but against principali- 
ties, against powers, against the rulers 
of the darkness of this world, against 
spiritual wickedness in high places. 2 
Those who live for self instead of God 
will learn that the wages of sin is death. 3 
In the warfare of life we must always 

1 St. John viii, 44. 2 Ephesians vi, 12. 

3 Romans vi, 23. 

[4] 



THE CROSS 



be on guard, for our adversary, the 
devil, as a roaring lion walketh about 
seeking whom he may devour. 1 The 
call to be a Christian is a call to battle 
against all that is opposed to the Will 
of God, and the Christian's battle-gauge 
is the Cross of Calvary. God created 
man to be immortal and made him to 
be an image of His own eternity. 
Nevertheless, through envy of the devil 
came death into the world. 2 By the 
death of the Cross, Jesus destroyed 
the power of death. He is perfect 
Man, the Conqueror riding on a white 
horse. 3 In the Temptation and on the 
Cross, Satan sought in vain to overcome 
the unconquerable might of the Ma- 
jestic Rider, unrecognized in the Per- 
son of the patient and gentle Man of 

1 St. Peter v, 8. 2 Wisdom ii, 23, 24. 

3 Rev. vi, 2. 



[5] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

Nazareth. To be carnally minded is 
death, but to be spiritually minded is 
life and peace. 1 

To seek spiritual things is to live the 
spiritual life — to live the life of Christ. 
That life is a pilgrimage, for in this 
world the Christian is a stranger in a 
strange land. Here we have no cer- 
tain dwelling place: 2 Heaven is our 
home. To reach our journey's end we 
must go the way of the Holy Cross, and 
he who journeys faithfully shall find 
the comfort of that rod and staff a daily 
support. 

Let us seek Him that turneth the 
shadow of death into the morning. 3 
For the faithful Christian, death need 
have no terror. It is the gate of life 
immortal. The trial or probation of 

1 Romans viii, 6. 2 I Cor. iv, n. 

3 Amos v, 8. 
[6] 



THE CROSS 



man, his time of labour and toil, ends 
when death comes; then the night 
cometh when no man can work. 1 Death 
is the penal consequence of sin ; an ex- 
perience of which we must each taste ; 
but to a Christian in a state of grace it 
will be the portal of that habitation 
where true happiness and everlasting 
peace do dwell. We shall be changed, 
and in the resurrection, capable of exist- 
ing in the life of the world to come. 
Identity, personality will remain, and 
we shall recognize those whom, — 

"We have loved long since and lost awhile." 

In my flesh shall I see God, 2 and then 
shall I know even as also I am known. 3 
We shall be perfected, body and soul; 
the mysteries of the universe shall be 

1 St. John ix, 4. 

2 Job xix, 26. 

3 Cor. xiii, 12. 

[7] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

opened to us, and possessed of new 
powers, new knowledge, new joys, we 
shall enjoy forever the full revelation 
of the glory of God. 



[8] 



CHAPTER II 

THE WAY OF FAITH 

The door of faith. Acts xiv, 27. 

THE creation of man was the 
crowning act of God's work. 
Man is made of body and soul. The 
soul is the medium between the spirit 
and the flesh, between which there was 
no proper communion before this di- 
vine inspiration. Thus the soul is 
the meeting-point of man's higher and 
lower natures, the battle-ground in 
which take place the daily conflicts 
between flesh and spirit. The soul is 
immortal. It came forth from the 
hand of God — " a thought of God 
expressed in time " — to exist forever. 

[9] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

Life can only come from life. So 
God said, Let us make man in Our 
own image. 1 Then the Lord God 
breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life; and man became a living 
soul. 2 

We were made to know, to love, and 
to serve God and to be the objects of 
his love. The soul came forth from 
God endowed with intelligence, affec- 
tions, senses, activities, and conscience: 
intelligence that we might know Him, 
affections with which to love Him, 
senses to feel after Him, activities to 
serve Him, and conscience to respond 
to His judgments. 

Faith is both moral and dogmatic. 
So we say in the creeds, I believe in the 
Holy Catholic Church, and, I believe 
one Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

1 Genesis i, 26. 2 Genesis xi, 7. 

[10] 



THE WAY OF FAITH 



And no man can say that Jesus is the 
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 1 The 
will to believe is a gift of grace. So 
Faith is one of the three fundamental 
theological virtues imparted to the soul 
in Holy Baptism, it is a gift of the Holy 
Spirit. Baptism has been called the 
Sacrament of Illumination. 

In Eden our first parents yielded to 
temptation and disobeyed God. So 
sin came into the world. Sin is dis- 
obedience — a definition the youngest 
child can soon understand. In the 
body we have ^fzjr-consciousness, in 
the soul ^//-consciousness, in the spirit 
GoJ-consciousness. The lust of the 
flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride 
of life were all active in the first sin. 
The divine gift of curiosity was prosti- 
tuted by Eve. Then when man had 

1 I Cor. xii, 3. 

["3 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

sinned, he lost his innocence and shame 
came into his knowledge. Sickness, 
sorrow, and death followed the first act 
of sin ; the body became liable to disease 
and pain; man's will became turned 
from God; the mind became darkened 
and blighted, so that thenceforth he 
could not see clearly between right and 
wrong; and the affections, which before 
had been pure, became passionate and 
stormy. 

In Adam's sin there was a real Fall 
from original righteousness, and man 
became instantly separated from God. 
The original sin was Adam's. He, not 
Eve, was the head of the human race. 
Beware of the first sin. 

"Acts make habits and habits make 
character." A habit of sin will lead 
to separation from God ; and final sepa- 
ration from God — the possible choice 

[12] 



THE WAY OF FAITH 



of a creature endowed with free-will — 
results in hell. By one act of dis- 
obedience Adam lost for himself and 
all his sons peace, tranquillity, and en- 
joyment. Fear, anxiety, remorse took 
their place. Conscious of shame, Adam 
and Eve felt unfit even to be seen by 
God; just as does, to-day, a soul under 
the ban of mortal sin. Then there 
crept into their hearts a dread of God 
and a desire to escape from His Pres- 
ence. A new sense wakened within 
them, the sense of guilt. Charged with 
their sin they offered futile excuses; 
they showed no sign of sorrow. Al- 
ready their character had become de- 
praved, their hearts hardened, and they 
were hostile to God. Then their fallen 
nature was transmitted to the sons of 
Adam for all time. Man had by sin 
marred God's beautiful work. So the 

[13] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

Church tells us that all men are con- 
ceived and born in sin, and they who 
are in the flesh cannot please God, 
but live in sin, committing many actual 
transgressions. 1 

But God loved the world He had 
made. At length He sent his only- 
begotten Son to redeem man. God 
became Man. The mystery of the 
Incarnation is, that God the Son 
was made Man for us. The mystery 
of the Redemption is, that God the 
Son suffered and died for us. The 

MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY is 

that there are three Persons in one 
God. Here is a revelation of divine 
love, mercy, and forbearance. On these 
three basic mysteries the economy of 
the Catholic Religion is formulated. 
God's way to save a fallen race was 

1 Baptismal Office. 

[h] 



THE WAY OF FAITH 



by the Divine Humiliation : He willed to 
take human nature into union with the 
divine. So Jesus Christ the Son of God 
and Blessed Mary Ever- Virgin, became 
the Fountain of Life, the second Adam. 
As we have already seen, Faith en- 
ables us to believe in God. It is not 
strange that the unbaptized do not 
know God supernaturally. Natural 
man has the capacity; regenerated he 
has the power. Unregenerate, like the 
Greeks, he can only say, we would see 
Jesus. 1 Born again, his spiritual eyes 
will open and his vision will expand, 
as the rays of the Sun of Righteousness 
are diffused within his redeemed soul, 
till at length he may, if he will, grow to 
count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, 
that he may win Christ and be found 

1 St. John xii, 21. 

[15] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

in Him, not having his own righteous- 
ness, but the righteousness which is of 
God by faith, and know Him and the 
power of His resurrection. 1 The Chris- 
tian learns to say with advancing years, 
as faith grows strong, I know Him 
whom I have believed. 2 Faith knows 
no word impossible. We walk by faith, 
not by sight. 3 Blessed are they that 
have not seen and yet have believed. 4 

The revealed Faith is also a sacred 
trust. The facts of revelation can 
never change or cease to be. Faith 
has nothing to fear from the discoveries 
of true science, or the reverent treat- 
ment of Holy Scripture by holy critics 
in the interest of accuracy. The 
Church is the guardian of the Faith, 
the keeper of the Word, the pillar and 

1 Philippians iii, 8-10. 3 2 Cor. v, 7. 

2 2 St. Timothy 1, 12. 4 St. John xxi, 29. 

[16] 



THE WAY OF FAITH 



ground of the Truth, the teacher of 
Morals, the dispenser of Grace. For 
scholars she is God's university, for 
simple disciples she is a safe home, for 
the timorous she is an ark of safety, 
for questioners she has the only certain 
answers. If every word and letter of 
Holy Scripture were swept away by criti- 
cism, the indefectible Church would still 
be the living Witness of our Faith. Let 
us trust her always; so shall we come 
to perfect agreement in the faith and 
knowledge of God, and to that ripeness 
and perfectness of age in Christ, so that 
there shall be no place either for error 
in religion or for viciousness in life. 1 

My God, I believe in Thee and all 
Thy Church doth teach, because Thou 
hast said it and Thy word is true. 

Lord, increase our faith. 2 

1 See Ordinal. 2 St. Luke xvii, 5. 

[17] 



w 



CHAPTER III 

THE WAY OF HOPE 
In hope of eternal life. TlTUS i, 2. 

ITHOUT hope, life would be 



unendurable. Hope is the sec- 
ond of the theological virtues. Hope is 
the virtue which enables us to desire 
God. Hungry and thirsty for the life 
of the spirit, hope cries out within us, 
My soul is athirst for God. 1 If we 
hope for that we see not, then do we 
with patience wait for it. 2 Hope is 
desire sanctified. A Christian's hope 
is high and holy trust; one of the three 
ways by which the soul knows God. 
Hope encourages and stimulates, it is 

1 Psalm xlii, 12. 2 Romans viii, 25. 

[18] 



THE WAY OF HOPE 



the spur to all activity. It is a means 
of strength to our weakened will. 
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the 
Lord and whose hope the Lord is. 1 
Hope is for this life; hereafter it shall 
be lost in sight. Here, hope, like aspira- 
tion, is practically boundless. We are 
ever hoping for the realization of our 
Ideal. We are to be like those who 
against hope believe in hope. 2 We are 
to plow the furrows of life in hope. 
Hope makes courageous Christians. 
Pressing onward we are to hope to the 
end, for the grace that is to be brought 
unto us at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ. 3 We must never doubt the 
good-will of God towards us. We are 
the objects of his constant love. Are we 
sinners? Even so, while we were yet 

1 Jer. xvii, 7. 2 Romans iv, 18. 

3 1 Peter i, 13. 

[19} 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

sinners Christ died for us. 1 He came 
to call sinners to repentance. 2 Hope 
is the best antidote for despair. De- 
spair is the result of remorse. Judas 
lost hope after he betrayed his Lord. 
Hope springs eternal in the heart of the 
contrite sinner. Saint Peter, converted, 
strengthens his brethren and is at last 
bidden to care for Christ's lambs. The 
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear 
Him, in those that hope for His mercy. 3 
God is Law as well as Love, Justice as 
well as Mercy. We must fear Him 
which is able to destroy both body and 
soul in hell. 4 Hope is the anchor of 
our sure confidence. 

Yet we must not presume. Pre- 
sumption is a sin against the Holy 
Ghost. God will not do all; we must 

1 Romans v, 8. 3 Psalm cxlvii, n. 

2 St. Mark ii, 17. 4 St. Matt, x, 28. 

[20] 



THE WAY OF HOPE 



ourselves work while it is day. 1 We 
cannot do without God. We cannot 
live without grace. Grace is the free 
gift of God and it is given with a 
lavish hand, enough for every need. 
Jesus said to S. Paul, My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee. 2 It is sufficient, but for 
efficacy requires the action of the hu- 
man will. I can do all things through 
Christ Who strengtheneth me. 3 At 
least effort is required of us. 

My God, I hope in Thee for grace 
and for glory, because of Thy promises, 
Thy mercy and thy power. 

1 St. John ix, 4. 2 2 Cor. xii, 9. 

3 Phil, iv, 13. 



[21] 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WAY OF LOVE 

The love of Christ constraineth us. 2 Cor. v, 14. 

WE were made to know God, to 
love Him, to serve Him, and to 
be the objects of His love. Love or 
charity is that virtue whereby we love 
God and all men in Him. Charity is 
a Christian word. Love, too, is the first 
and great commandment, at once the 
simplest and most arduous to perform. 
The primitive meaning of El — God, is 
the goal. We are and through all eter- 
nity have been the object of the love of 
God. We were made to love Him; to 
fully realize that love is the destiny of a 

Christian. The fear of Hell — final and 

[22] 



THE WAY OF LOVE 



eternal separation from God ; of the loss 
of Heaven ; of failure to reach the goal, 
may produce in us attrition — a certain 
imperfect sorrow which arises from such 
fears. But the love of Christconstraineth 
us. 1 We love Him because He first loved 
us. 2 While we were yet sinners Christ 
died for us. 3 Love forms contrition — 
the sorrow for love's sake. It can only 
be perfect when, as we think upon God's 
great love for us and the outrage to that 
love which our sin has caused, we say 
daily with David, My sin is ever before 
me. 4 Contrition is penitence that is 
lifelong and unceasing. 

The Bible is full of divine intensities, 
as in it we read of the love of God. We 
read of the marvellous loving-kindness 
of the Lord, of His tender mercies, of 

1 1 Cor. 11, 9. 3 St. Matt, ii, 28. 

2 1 St. John iv, 19. * Psalm li, 3. 

[23] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

His plenteous redemption. We are lost 
in infinity as we hear, God so loved 
the world. 1 The love of God for man 
is no new thing, it is from everlasting 
to everlasting. Eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither have entered into 
the heart of man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love Him. 2 
When the Pilgrim arrives at his jour- 
ney's end, there await him delights and 
pleasures of unimagined beauty and 
loveliness. The pleasures of sense, of 
this world, entice with siren voices. 
But the voice of the Beloved calls us 
in tones of melody surpassing all created 
loveliness, Love not the world, neither 
the things that are in the world. 3 
Come unto Me all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you 

1 St. John iii, 1 6. 2 I Cor. ii, 9. 

3 1 St. John ii, 15. 

[24] 



THE WAY OF LOVE 



rest. 1 All who respond to that invita- 
tion find what they are seeking. The 
broken-hearted, the bruised, the deso- 
late, the mourning; all who will, shall 
receive the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness. 2 

Love is the most wonderful thing in 
time or in eternity. Jesus is the revela- 
tion of the Father's love for a fallen 
race. He would draw us with the 
cords of a man. It is with an almost 
passionate ecstasy of longing that he 
who calls himself less than the least 
of all saints 3 exclaims, I bow my knees 
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of whom the whole family in 
heaven and earth is named, that He 
would grant you, according to the 
riches of His glory, to be strengthened 

1 St. Matt, xi, 28. 2 Isaiah lxi, 2. 

3 Eph. 111, 8. 

[25] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

with might by His Spirit in the inner 
man; that Christ may dwell in your 
hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend with all saints, what is the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and 
height; and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge, that ye might 
be filled with all the fulness of God. 1 

In no human language can we express 
the love of God — it passeth knowledge. 
We know of great human loves, such 
as that of David and Jonathan — 
passing the love of women; 2 of Jacob 
for Rachel. But the tongue cannot 
tell, even in its most rapturous speech, 
of the love of the Sacred Heart. Jesus 
is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of 
the Valleys. He belongs to us and He 
desires our love. Let us say, The voice 

1 Eph. iii, 14-19. 2 2 Sam. i, 26. 

[26] j 



THE WAY OF LOVE 



of my Beloved calls me. O my Dove 
that art in the clefts of the rock, in the 
secret places of the stairs, let me see 
Thy countenance, let me hear Thy 
voice. 1 I will rise now and go about 
the city in the streets, and in the broad 
ways I will seek Him whom my soul 
loveth; 2 until the day break and the 
shadows flee away. 3 Such must be the 
quest of every soul — the Face of Jesus 
Christ. 4 

Many have found themselves by los- 
ing themselves in the Divine Ideal. In 
every century since time has been re- 
corded by the years of our Lord, men, 
women and children have known the 
love of God and have lived for it, and 
died for it; have done what they could, 
giving even of their penury in tender 

1 Canticles 11. 2 Canticles in, 2. 

3 Ibid, ii, 17. 4 2 Cor. iv, 6. 

[27] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

gratitude. There is holy ground in 
every country where the Cross of Christ 
has been uplifted, and the blood of 
martyrs has been sown like seed in 
every land. Palestine and Rome, India 
and the Isles of the sea, Africa and 
Britain, China, Japan and America, 
have made their glad tribute — have 
made, and must still offer, sacrifice. 
The love of the Crucified has trans- 
formed the world. The Sign of the 
Cross has been marked on the door- 
posts of every nation. No story to-day 
enthralls men as does the story of the 
Passion. Why? It is the story of 
deathless love. Pain and Suffering and 
Poverty have become sacramental. 

My God, because Thou art so good, 
I love Thee with my whole heart, and 
for Thy sake, I love my neighbour as 

myself. 

[28] 



CHAPTER V 

THE WAY OF PRAYER — PRIVATE 
Pray without ceasing. I Thess. v, 17. 

PRAYER is hard work, a golden 
stair indeed, but its heights are 
steep. Prayer is communion with the 
Infinite; so men to-day may talk and 
walk with God. In prayer, in the 
visions of the night, men as they pray 
gain strength, and the eye of faith dis- 
cerns the immortal glory — 
"The light that never shone on land or sea." 

The atmosphere of prayer is the mantle 
of the Deity; it is sweet with the fra- 
grance of the 

"Lilies of eternal peace." 



"Joys that will not cease," — 

[29] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

joys that no man can take away, await 
those who seek the Face of Jesus Christ. 
Seek ye My Face; Thy Face, Lord, will 
I seek. 1 

Prayer may be private or public, 
vocal or mental. Prayer may take 
the form of thanksgiving or eucharis- 
tic, adoration, praise, intercession, sup- 
plication and contemplation. Prayer 
means a whisper, an entreaty, "to 
strike against/' to bend, to bow down, 
to meditate, to ask, a song of praise, a 
pouring out. So, if we knock, Heaven 
itself shall be opened to us. Men 
prayed long before God let Solomon 
build Him an house. Abraham prayed 
to God habitually. Moses prayed; so 
did Hannah when she said, My heart 
rejoiceth in the Lord; 2 so did David, 
and Solomon and Elisha, and Daniel 

1 Psalm xxvii, 8. 2 i Sam. ii, I. 

[30] 



THE WAY OF PRAYER, PRIVATE 

at the same time confessing his sin. 1 
Our Lord prayed constantly and He 
was urgent in His injunctions and 
directions about the way to pray; after 
this manner therefore pray ye: Our 
Father, etc.; 2 watch and pray that ye 
enter not into temptation ; 3 when ye 
pray believe that ye receive. 4 He prayed 
to His Father to glorify Him, to pre- 
serve His apostles in unity and truth, 
and to glorify them and all other be- 
lievers in heaven. 5 With Christians, 
from the beginning, Prayer has been 
a habit. Prayer reconciles us to the 
Will of God. The spirit of all prayer 
must be a willingness and desire to be 
conformed to the Will of God. Prayer 
is not prayer if it does not contain 



1 Dan. ix, 20. 3 St. Matt, xxvi, 41. 

2 St. Matt, vi, 19. 4 St. Mark xi, 24. 

5 St. John xvii, I . 

[31] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

that implication. We learn God's Will 
through prayer; so we come to under- 
stand Him and ourselves. Prayer 
opens the gates of Heaven to us, by 
it we come to a better knowledge of 
spiritual things. It is the deepest ex- 
pression of the soul's personal rela- 
tionship with God. We have to lose 
ourselves in prayer to find God. In 
the secret of His Presence He hides us. 
Prayer should be a habit with us. To 
remember always that we are in God's 
Presence is the spirit of recollection, 
the spirit of prayer. To understand 
this better one might read Brother 
Lawrence's practice of the presence 
of god. Wandering thoughts in prayer 
interfere with, but do not hinder essen- 
tial devotion, that is, prayer offered to 
God with a devout will. Any feeling 
of emotion or ecstasy is not necessary. 

[32] 



THE WAY OF PRAYER, PRIVATE 

When such feelings accompany prayer 
— perhaps at rare intervals — they 
only certify us as to the reality of the 
Invisible; then our essential devotion 
becomes what spiritual writers call ac- 
cidental We must pray whether we 
feel it or not. It is God the Holy 
Ghost, praying within us, who makes 
our prayers, often so unsatisfactory 
and incomplete, effective. The Holy 
Ghost is the Divine Wind blowing 
across the aeolian harp of the human 
soul. Many sweet chords have come 
from prayers of saints. So prayer be- 
comes perfect when the realization 
comes to us that — 

"Love took up the harp of life, 
Smote on all its chords with might, 
Smote the chord of self which — sighing, 
Passed in music out of sight." 

Supplication is prayer for oneself. 
[33] ' 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

Let my supplication come before Thee : 
deliver me according to Thy word. 1 

Intercession is prayer for others, a 
common every-day duty; the Lord 
turned the captivity of Job, when he 
prayed for his friends. We ourselves 
gain by praying for others. 

Thanksgiving finds its highest ex- 
pression in the Holy Eucharist, when 
we offer up to the Eternal Father our 
heartfelt gratitude for his mercies that 
are new every morning. With many the 
Eucharist is not only a weekly, but a 
daily, thanksgiving. At more than one 
hundred and forty altars in the Ameri- 
can Church is the Holy Sacrifice offered 
every day. 

Adoration is that act by which we 
pay divine honour to the Infinite Being 
of God; it is that supreme worship 

1 Psalm cxix, 170. 

[34] 



THE WAY OF PRAYER, PRIVATE 

called in the Greek latria, which may 
not be paid to any creature under pain 
of idolatry. Knowledge by which God 
enables us to distinguish between good 
and evil is the fire of adoration ; adora- 
tion is the gate of knowledge. 

Praise is the mode by which we laud 
and magnify the glorious Name of God : 
the glad expression of love and grati- 
tude for benefits received, our tribute 
of grateful homage to the ever-living 
Deity — 

" Love delights in praises." 

He is thy praise and he is thy God. 1 In 
all these ways may we pray. 

Meditation is another form of prayer 
and is, for many, a difficult exercise. 2 
To pray well one must pray in his 
own way, apart from the exercises of 
stated morning and evening prayers 

1 Deut. x, 21. 2 i Tim. iv, 15. 

[35] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

and participating in public services. 
Meditation exercises the spiritual facul- 
ties of the mind. Its highest form, 
which few realize well, is contempla- 
tion. Beginners often find help in 
using one of the many books of Medi- 
tations. But the spirit of meditation is, 
What does God want to say to my soul, 
now? Sometimes the mind is active, 
sometimes quiescent, and sometimes the 
only apparant result is the peace gained 
by a withdrawal from the world for the 
fifteen minutes or half hours given to 
this exercise. Yet that is a distinct 
blessing. Those who meditate — and 
all should sometimes make the effort — 
will certainly know more of the mind of 
Christ. Continued effort is never fruit- 
less, and sometimes such effort results 
in the reaping of a golden reward. 

[36] 



CHAPTER VI 

THE WAY OF PRAYER — PUBLIC 

No man cometh unto the Father ', but by Me. St. 
John xiv, 6. 

NO amount of private prayer in 
one's closet can relieve a Chris- 
tian of his duty with regard to his at- 
tendance upon the public services of 
the Church. Nor does attendance at 
Morning or Evening Prayer ever dis- 
charge one from the supreme duty 
of a Christian on the Lord's Day 

— ATTENDANCE AT THE SERVICE OF 

the holy communion. "The Mass is 
the thing." * The service which is the 

1 Attributed to Mr. Gladstone. 

[37] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

brightest jewel of our Prayer Book is 
"The Lord's Own Service on the Lord's 
Own Day/' The history of Matins 
and Evensong, beautiful offices that 
they are, teaches us that they are abbre- 
viations of the old monastic offices, and 
that they are but the processional and 
retrocessional of the majestic service 
of the Altar. This is evident to even 
a superficial observer, upon the most 
casual glance at the order of the Prayer 
Book services. The secular days of the 
month have their appointed portions of 
the Psalter. The frequent and syste- 
matic reading of God's Holy Word can- 
not be too strongly urged. But the 
weekly memorial of the Sacrifice of 
Calvary follows the perfect order of the 
Christian Year with its Collect, Epistle, 
and Gospel, proper to each Sunday and 
Holy Day. This shows us the mind of 

[38] 



THE WAY OF PRAYER, PUBLIC 

the Church. As Canon Liddon says: 
"A Christian of the first or second cen- 
tury would not have understood a 
Sunday in which, whatever else might 
be done, the Holy Communion was 
omitted ; and this great duty is best com- 
plied with as early as possible in the 
day, when the natural powers of the 
mind have been lately refreshed by 
sleep, when as yet the world has not 
taken off the bloom of the soul's first 
self-dedication to God, when thought 
and feeling and purpose are still bright 
and fresh and unembarrassed; then is 
the time, for those who would reap the 
full harvest of grace, to approach the 
altar. It is quite a different thing in 
the middle of the day even when seri- 
ous efforts are made to communicate 
reverently. Those who begin their Sun- 
days with the Holy Communion know 

[39] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

one of the deepest meanings of that 
promise, those that seek me early shall 
find me." * Yet worship is a lost art 
with many. 

As long ago as 1841, Mr. Gladstone 
wrote to a Liverpool clergyman — 
"The greatest object of all appears 
to me to be the re -establishment of the 
Eucharist in its proper and Scriptural 
place as the central act of at least 
our weekly worship." 2 So, the most 
serious form of Sabbath-breaking for 
a Christian is absenting oneself from 
attendance at the Mass on Sunday. 
Being present is the primary duty of the 
day. Then we can at least worship 
our dear Lord present in the Sacrament 
of His love. The spirit of the Fourth 
Commandment is transgressed when- 

1 Prov. viii, 17. 

2 The Household of Faith, p. 13. 

[40] 



THE WAY OF PRAYER, PUBLIC 

ever, without sufficient cause, we fail 
to assist at this most important public 
service. Attendance at Morning and 
Evening Prayer is entirely a secondary 
duty. For this reason in many parishes 
the parish priest provides for the offer- 
ing of the Holy Sacrifice at midday as 
well as early in the morning, so that 
the blame of non-attendance may not 
rest on him. With the religious evo- 
lution going on to-day it is quite prob- 
able that, in a few years' time, there 
will be but one Mass on Sunday where 
there is but one priest, and at an hour 
not later than nine or half-past nine. 
Non-communicating attendance has 
been a necessity of the stress of the 
past generation, but it is a means to an 
end. But non-communicating attend- 
ance is far better than non-attendance, 
and children should be sent to this 

[4i] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

morning service every Lord's Day to be 
taught how to worship. It is a radical 
mistake to make Catechism or Sunday 
School a substitute for Church attend- 
dance ; children ought to be taught how 
to worship, in their Father's House. 



[42] 



CHAPTER VII 

THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 
The mysteries of God. 2 Cor. iv, I. 

A SACRAMENT is an outward 
and visible sign of an inward and 
spiritual grace given unto us, ordained 
by Christ Himself, as a means whereby 
we receive the same and a pledge to 
assure us thereof. 1 Sacraments are not 
magical but mystical, and their number 
is the mystical number, seven. The 
life of a Christian ought to be a sacra- 
mental life to be a truly evangelical 
and Catholic Life. Sacraments are 
necessary means of grace where they 
may be had; they are the ways by 

1 See Catechism. 

[43] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

which God chooses to impart to his 
children supernatural life, food, and 
medicine; the sources of energy in the 
life of the spirit, each sacrament having 
an efficacy of its own. This does not 
deny that the grace of God overflows 
and transcends sacramental means, at 
times, at His Will. 

The Church is a mother who would 
care for the children of God from the 
cradle to the grave, and is the dispenser 
of these sacraments. The sacramental 
life insures to the faithful, persevering 
Christian pilgrim the possession of the 
life of the world to come. There is no 
doubt about this. It is a most certain 
fact of revealed religion, an assurance 
of the Catholic Faith. Sacraments are 
the means by which the natural man 
is transformed into the supernatural. 

The Sacraments are for all sorts and 
[44] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 

conditions of men, and confer grace for 
every vocation and for every need of 
man's spiritual nature. 

Holy Baptism is the Sacrament by 
which a soul is born again into the 
Kingdom of God. 1 It restores to man 
the sanctifying grace he lost by the 
Fall. By it he is made a member of 
Christ, the child of God and an in- 
heritor of the Kingdom of heaven; by 
it the soul is purified and beautified. 
It is the Sacrament of Initiation into 
the communion of the Church Catholic. 
All persons by whomsoever properly 
baptized with water, in the Name of 
the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost, are incorporated into the 
one Church of God; become entitled 
to all the privileges of such membership 
and to participate in all the good works 

1 St. John iii, 5. 

[45] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

and merits of the whole Church. Bap- 
tism is the door of entrance. There is 
but one Baptism for the remission of 
sins. In Baptism Original Sin is re- 
mitted as well as all actual sins, mortal 
and venial. It is the sacrament that con- 
fers the Christian character ', and cannot 
be repeated. Faith, Hope, and Charity 
became our companions from the mo- 
ment of baptism, that is, we then re- 
ceive the power to exercise them as well 
as the Cardinal Virtues, and the gifts of 
the Holy Spirit. 

The HOLY EUCHARIST is called 
in the Prayer Book the Blessed Sacra- 
ment of the Body and Blood of Christ. 
It is the Most Holy Sacrament. It is 
the great act of thanksgiving and inter- 
cession, offered to the Eternal Father 
for us by our Eternal High Priest. In 

passing, it may be noted that in the 

[46] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 

Holy Scripture the Holy Communion 
is never called the Lord's Supper, nor 
is the Lord's Day anywhere called the 
Sabbath. The name Eucharist has 
been common to all ages, and Mass, 
which is a convenient word, was re- 
tained by the reformers, in the first 
translation of the English Prayer Book, 
as the name by which the service of the 
altar was commonly or generally called. 
The Holy Sacrament of the Altar was 
instituted by our Lord on the night 
before He suffered, 1 for a continual re- 
membrance of His Death. 

The Western Church has always used 
wine — the fermented juice of the grape 
— and unleavened bread almost invari- 
ably. These form the matter of the sac- 
rament. Unfermented grape juice is 
neither scriptural, nor is it proper mat- 

1 St. Luke xxii. 

[47] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

ter. The words of institution, This is 
My Body, and, This is My Blood, are 
the essential form. When the words of 
consecration are said by the priest, the 
bread and wine become the Body and 
Blood of Christ Who becomes really 
present in this adorable sacrament, 
Wherever Christ is, He is to be adored, 
says Jeremy Taylor. Adoration is in- 
separable from the doctrine of the Real 
Presence, and this doctrine has been 
taught by the Church from the begin- 
ning. Saint Augustine says, No man 
eateth that Flesh unless he hath first 
adored. In the Eucharist we receive 
the Glorified Humanity of our divine 
Lord: again, as saith Augustine, we do 
visibly press with our teeth the sacra- 
ment of the Body and Blood of Christ, 
yet we receive that sacrament after an 
heavenly and spiritual manner, as the 

[48] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 

Catechism tells us. Nothing is to be 
gained by a timid teaching of this doc- 
trine. We cannot understand it but 
we believe it. Where is the Christian 
who would refuse to adore his God 
wherever He is ? 

The Real Presence is a mystery, the 
mystery of mysteries, but it is a fact. 
The Holy Eucharist is a representation 
of the Sacrifice of Calvary, but Christ 
is not immolated again at each offer- 
ing. Christ in the sacrament is our 
sin-offering, 1 our burnt-offering, 2 and 
our thank-offering: 3 He is our peace. 4 
In every Mass this spiritual sacrifice 
is again offered to the Eternal Father 
for His glory, for the salvation of souls 
and for the sanctification of His chosen 
ones. It is our continual remembrance 

1 Lev. iii, 6. Ibid, viii, 17. 3 Lev. iv, 26. 

2 Ephes. ii, 14. 4 Gen. xxiii, 2. 

[49] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, 
and of the benefits which we receive 
thereby. The benefits to the recipient 
are the strengthening and refreshing of 
the soul. 1 We taste and see how gra- 
cious the Lord is. 2 We eat this heavenly 
Manna, we drink of the sacred chalice 
of the Precious Blood and live forever. 
It is the food of immortality. Every 
good Communion unites us closer to 
Jesus, for we receive the Communion 
of the Body of Christ. 3 If we are in a 
state of grace we can hardly go too 
often to receive this holy sacrament 
which protects and fortifies us. " Hear- 
ing Mass," is by no means enough, 
albeit a weekly duty. But we need to 
remember, as we are told in the Book 
of Homilies, that The Holy Eucharist 

1 Vide Catechism. 2 Psalm xxxiv, 8. 

3 i Cor. x, 1 6. 

[50] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 

is the salve of immortality and the 
sovereign preservative against Death; 
a deifical Communion, the sweet dain- 
ties of our Saviour, the pledge of eternal 
health, the defence of faith, the hope of 
the Resurrection, the food of immor- 
tality, the healthful grace, and the con- 
servatory to everlasting life. 

O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ 
is received, the memory of His passion 
renewed, the mind fulfilled with Grace, 
and a Pledge of future Glory given 
unto us. 

Early and Fasting Communion are 
customs that have come down to us 
from primitive times, and these cus- 
toms have never been wholly aban- 
doned in.our communion, deo gratias. 
Evening Communions now are almost 
unheard of, and are sad reminders of 
some of the deteriorating influences of 

[51] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

three hundred years ago. To be primi- 
tive we must receive the Blessed Sacra- 
ment early, or at least fasting, that is, 
before any other food or drink has been 
taken. How can one conscientiously 
offer his body as a "reasonable sacri- 
fice " at twelve o'clock noon, after he 
has had a hearty breakfast, read the 
Sunday newspaper, and then, the day 
nearly half over, gone to church to 
attend the Divine Mysteries ? A Catho- 
lic Christian is bound to come to the 
altar fasting. It is a humble tribute 
of reverence and may often have a real 
element of sacrifice in it. It is the re- 
quirement of an obedient spirit. 

To such as have this obedient spirit, 
Fasting Communion is a law. At least 
it is an universal custom and of remote 
antiquity, and has never been aban- 
doned by either of our sister com- 

[52] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS 

munions. Why should we abandon it ? 
From henceforward make your com- 
munions fasting as an act of love, and 
of reparation for the many insults 
offered to our Lord in His most holy 
sacrament by the ignorant and pro- 
fane. 

Jeremy Taylor of pious memory says 
that " it is a Catholic custom that they, 
who receive the Holy Communion, 
should receive it fasting. This is not 
a duty commanded by God, but unless 
it be necessary to eat, 1 he that despises 
the custom, gives nothing but the testi- 
mony of an evil mind." 2 

1 E.g., the Viaticum might have to be given in 
extremis after the fast had been broken. 

2 (Ductor Dubitantium, Book m, ch. iv. rule xv). 



[53] 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS. (2) 

CONFIRMATION is the Sacra- 
ment of Warriors, i.e., it confers 
upon the Christian child, arrived at 
the age of responsibility, the character 
of a SOLDIER of Jesus Christ. It 
represents the second stage of our pro- 
gress. In Confirmation we receive the 
armour and weapons for the warfare of 
the Christian life — the special protec- 
tion and aid of God the Holy Ghost. 
We are born of water and the Holy 
Ghost in Baptism, but Confirmation 
stirs up the grace of God which is in 
us, now poured upon us in sevenfold 
plenitude and power. As the character 
of the child of God is stamped upon the 
soul indelibly in Baptism, in Confirma- 

[54] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

tion we are sealed or stamped with the 
character of the Holy Spirit: having 
arrived at a certain maturity we become 
soldiers of Christ. 

In Confirmation sanctifying grace is 
increased in the soul. It is conferred 
upon us, or should be, as soon as we 
can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
and the Ten Commandments, and are 
sufficiently instructed in the other parts 
of the Church Catechism. Prayer 
Book Christians should aim to obey 
the Prayer Book. The rubric requires 
that the child baptized shall be brought 
to the Bishop to be confirmed, so soon 
as these simple rules of faith are learned, 
and sponsors should take care that the 
rubric is obeyed. 

We have further on devoted three 
chapters to Penance. Confession is the 
lesser part of this sacrament because it 

[55] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

is man's part. The wonderful part of 
the sacrament is Absolution, and that 
is God's part. Every time absolution 
is pronounced, the Precious Blood is 
sprinkled 1 upon the soul of the penitent, 
and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
us from all sin. 2 Be convinced of this 
great truth and you will eagerly avail 
yourself of this means of grace, by 
which your soul may be healed of the 
wounds made by sin. 

Holy Order is the sacrament by 
which men are ordered, ordained, and 
consecrated to the ministerial office of 
deacon, priest, and bishop. It is the 
only means by which men can receive 
valid ordination to the apostolic minis- 
try in the Church of God. The Catho- 
lic Church is a divine organism, and 
not a voluntary association or organiza- 

1 Heb. xii, 24. 2 I St. John i, 7 

[56] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

tion of persons, who are trying to main- 
tain the Kingdom of God by what they 
call the continuity of the Christian life. 
The Ministry of the Catholic 
Church alone, is a ministry possessing di- 
vine authority and supernatural powers, 
the latter resulting from the former. 
Every man ordained to the sacred priest- 
hood receives a share in the Eternal 
Priesthood of Jesus Christ, 1 and is there- 
by possessed of the power to consecrate 
the Holy Eucharist, 2 to absolve sinners, 3 
and to administer all the sacraments, 
except Confirmation and Holy Order 
which, in our Communion, are reserved 
to the Episcopate — as well as to preach 
the everlasting gospel and to teach. 4 
The Western Church teaches that Holy 
Order is indelible. Once a priest always 

1 Heb. vii, 14. 3 St. John xxi, 22, 23. 

2 St. Luke xxii, 19. 4 St. Matt, xxviii, 18-20. 

[57] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

a priest. " No Church without a bishop," 
is an old maxim. The episcopate in- 
cludes the fulness of the priesthood 
and is necessary for the conferring of 
the sacerdotal office. Mission and juris- 
diction are powers which can only be 
transmitted by the episcopate. 

To preach one must be sent. 1 Men 
have a right to ask, By what authority 
doest thou these things ? for the Priest- 
hood of our Lord is of such authority 
and honour, that no man taketh this 
honour unto himself but he that is 
called of God, as was Aaron. 2 The 
apostolic ministry presents the only 
sound platform as a basis of true Chris- 
tain Unity. There can be no true 
unity without it. All efforts towards it, 
that would minimize its essential char- 
acter, will be futile. The preface to the 

1 Rom. x, 15. 2 Heb. v, 4. 

[58] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

Ordinal on page 546 of the Prayer Book 
should be read frequently, on one's 
knees. The bishop says to the deacon 
about to be advanced to the priest- 
hood — "Have always therefore printed 
in your remembrance, how great a 
treasure is committed to your charge." 
Have a special reverence for the min- 
isters of Jesus Christ. Some say this 
old-fashioned reverence is dying out. 
Revive it. Obey them that have the 
rule over you, and submit yourselves: 
for they watch for your souls, as they 
that must give account, that they may 
do it with joy, and not with grief. 1 
Like priest, like people: like people, like 
priest. 2 Who is sufficient for these 
things ? 3 A priest is a messenger, a 
watchman, a steward, a teacher, a pro- 

1 Heb. xiii, 17. 2 Isaiah xxiv, 2. 

3 2 Cor. ii, 16. 

[59] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

vider, a father, a servant. 1 Take heed 
how ye hear. 2 

Holy Matrimony is a sacrament 
which sanctifies a matter of common, 
ordinary life, for those who have a voca- 
tion to the married state. Marriage is 
an honourable estate, instituted of God 
in the time of man's innocency, signify- 
ing unto us the mystical union that is 
betwixt Christ and His Church. Being 
a sacrament of the living it may not be 
given to an unbaptized person — a 
blessing cannot be given to anything 
dead. Nor is it to be given to any 
within the prohibited degrees; neither 
is it for the divorced, "Once married, 
married until death." Those whom 
God hath joined together let no man 
put asunder, is the warning of the 

1 Ezek. xxxiii, 7-9. 

2 St. Luke viii, 18 

[60] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

Church. 1 The blessing of the Church 
raises marriage to a supernatural level. 
Marriage was ordained for the pro- 
creation of children. Holy Matrimony 
reminds us that they are to be brought 
up for God. Further, marriage was 
ordained for a remedy against sin and 
to avoid fornication. But even the 
married may, nay, must be continent. 
And, again, holy matrimony was or- 
dained for the mutual society, help, 
and comfort that the one ought to have 
of the other, both in prosperity and 
adversity. 2 As regards the marriage 
contract, man and woman are by the 
gospel placed on an equal footing. The 
position of a wife and mother is one 
of great dignity and sacredness. Mar- 
riage is a high and holy state. In it a 

1 Vide Prayer-Book. 

2 See English Prayer Book for these three reasons. 

[61] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

man and woman may fulfil their true 
vocation. Christ adorned and beauti- 
fied by His presence the marriage at 
Cana, and there He performed His first 
miracle. Mutual consent forms the 
marriage bond, and the ministers of 
Holy Matrimony are the man and the 
woman. Contentment, mutual love, 
and forbearance are some of the secrets 
of a happy married life. Men are to 
love their wives as their own bodies: 1 
a wife is to reverence her husband. 2 
Divine grace, conferred at the time of 
marriage, will enable a man and his 
wife faithfully to keep the marriage 
vow. It is a vow to be taken reverently, 
discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the 
fear of God. " Sacrifice alone is fruit- 
ful," says Lammenais. In the married 

1 Ephes. v, 28. 

2 Ibid, v, 33, 

[62] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

state a man and his wife will have daily 
opportunity to learn the truth of this 
wise saying. 

A Christian home is always a haven 
for good. It is one of the surest safe- 
guards of society. It should be a 
picture to the world of temperance, 
soberness, and chastity. A life begun 
together at the altar in the quiet of the 
morning, hallowed by the nuptial mass, 
should be a happy life indeed. Happy 
in spite of adversity, and sorrow, and 
hardship, because of that inseparable 
bond which is likened in Holy Writ 
to the union that is betwixt Christ and 
His church. 1 The married life at its 
best will teach the ultimate secret 
which God reveals to His chosen ones 
— the secret of living not for self but 
for another. 

1 Ephes. v, 32. 

[63]' 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

The general restoration of the ancient 
custom of Anointing the Sick, 1 with 
the prayer of faith — or Extreme Unc- 
tion (so-called from this being the last 
sacrament to be administered with 
unction or the use of oil), would be 
the best answer the Church could give 
to that modern and dangerous deceit 
by which so many souls have been 
hurt, perhaps mortally — un-Christian 
Science. It is curious how Anglo- 
Saxons pride themselves on their preju- 
dices and how they think they dislike 
names and things with which they 
have lost familiarity — for three hun- 
dred years, e.g., the Mass, Extreme 
Unction, and Incense. 

Those who have witnessed the ad- 
ministration of this sacrament will 
never forget the impression they re- 

1 St. James v, 14, 15. 

[64] 



THE WAY OF THE SACRAMENTS (2) 

ceived of its deep solemnity. While 
not having a special office in our Prayer 
Book, holy oil is blessed by many 
bishops, and the use of this sacrament 
in cases of dangerous sickness is grad- 
ually being restored. 

The prayer of faith, with the use of 
this sacrament, shall save the sick. It 
may save the body to a longer life in 
this world. It does strengthen the 
soul with all graces needed at the hour 
of death. It gives to the soul fortitude 
and resignation, courage, strength and 
confidence, and peacefulness. It de- 
livers from the remains of our sins. It 
is a most merciful sacrament, for it 
may be given even to an unconscious 
soul, as the seal of God's pardon — if 
he have committed sins they shall be 
forgiven him. 1 Do your part in restor- 

1 St. James v, 15. 

[65] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

ing this sacrament to its proper place 
and dignity. 

In times of danger or impending 
peril in the sick-room ask for Holy 
Unction as naturally as you ask for the 
Bread of Life. It is your right. It is 
a means of grace. It was instituted 
for your health and comfort, both of 
body and soul. When you are sick 
send for the elders of the Church. 

Bishop Churton of Nassau says very 
succinctly: "There seems no reason 
why we should not gradually accustom 
our people to this also, and so wipe off 
even that last surviving reproach — a 
neglect which has been inexcusable; or 
for which the only excuse was the 
complete oblivion which so long en- 
veloped the practice. " 



[66] 



CHAPTER IX 

THE WAY OF PENITENCE 
All have sinned. Rom. iii, 23. 

ALL have missed the mark. A 
Christian's life should be one 
of sustained effort, of pressing towards 
the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus. 1 God 
is the Christian's goal. The law of 
God is our schoolmaster to bring us 
unto Christ. 2 We had not known sin 
but by the law. 3 So sin is the trans- 
gression of the law — disobedience. 
All have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God. 4 It is the essential glory 

1 Philip iii, 14. 3 Rom. vii, 17. 

2 Gal. iii, 24. 4 Rom. iii, 23. 

[67] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

of the Blessed Trinity that each Person 
of the Godhead is known and appre- 
ciated and valued thoroughly, and so 
is praised and glorified adequately and 
infinitely. God receives the perfect 
worship of all the heavenly hierarchies. 
If we are living the life of Christ, we 
are, by our service, adding to the acci- 
dental glory of God. This is brought 
out in the Mass where, in the Tersanc- 
tus, it is declared that it is very meet, 
right, and our bounden duty that we 
should at all times and in all places 
give thanks unto God, and with angels 
and archangels, and with all the com- 
pany of heaven, laud and magnify 
God's glorious Name. On the other 
hand, if we are living in sin and are 
the servants of sin, we are really asso- 
ciated with Satan in dishonouring and 

blaspheming the Divine Majesty. 

[68] 



THE WAY OF PENITENCE 

The Mystery of the Redemption is, 
that God the Son suffered and died 
for us. Jesus Christ came to undo the 
work of sin, to repair the otherwise 
irreparable mischief wrought by evil. 
We ourselves sin, of our own free-will; 
the temptation to disobedience comes 
from the malice of the devil, but Satan 
cannot and does not make us sin. 
Temptation tests our virtue. The 
struggle goes on in the soul; man's 
free-will is the final judge. The in- 
telligence and the will must act in every 
case of deliberate sin. The intelli- 
gence and will of Adam acting in dis- 
obedience to God's command produced 
that Original sin with which all the 
children of Adam have been tainted. 
Such are the awful consequences of 
sin. When man sins he turns from the 
Creator to the creature, and ceases to 

[69] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

be a friend of God. Sin deprives the 
soul of God, for it is a contradiction of 
God. The life of God in the soul — 
the divine image, is vitiated by one 
act of mortal sin. 

The Mystery of the Redemption is 
the undoing of the power of evil; a 
means by which fallen, sinful man is 
restored to God's favour and the divine 
likeness is repaired. The Cross of 
Calvary is a call to repentance. Re- 
pentance is a turning from sin to God. 
Having sinned, ere we can be justified 
or sanctified we must repent. 

Now repentance is no easy matter. 
Like the labour of prayer, repentance is 
hard work, because the natural man is 
always opposed to God. The influence 
of sin is so delusive and so subtile and 
insidious. When sin lieth at the door, 
within the house there is corrupt desire, 

[70] 



THE WAY OF PENITENCE 

which may eat its way like the sleeping 
sickness, and little by little all that is 
crafty, wily, cunning, artful, and guile- 
ful possess us. We must always flee 
from sin. Resist the devil and he will 
flee from you. 1 Sin hardens the heart 
and it is possible for a man so to choose 
to live a life of sin, that at length it will 
be impossible for him to repent. It 
is possible for any man to become like 
Esau or Judas: good were it for that 
man if he had never been born. 2 To 
repent we must exercise our reason, our 
will, and our affections; we must, in- 
deed, have another mind. To repent 
perfectly we must become like-minded 
with Christ. We must turn in on our- 
selves and turn ourselves out, for what 
concord hath Christ with Belial ? 3 None 

1 St. James iv, 7. 2 St. Mark xiv, 21. 

3 2 Cor. iv, 15. 

[71] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

at all. Judgment must begin at the 
house of God: and if it first begin at 
us what shall the end be of them that 
obey not the gospel of God ? and if the 
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall 
the ungodly and the sinner appear? 1 
Humble yourselves therefore under the 
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt 
you in due time. 2 

There are three parts to repentance: 
contrition, confession, and satisfaction 
or amendment. Three are the notable 
duties of the Christian: Prayer, Fast- 
ing, and Almsgiving; and there are 
three groups in the list of the seven 
deadly sins: Pride, Envy, and Anger; 
Covetousness; Lust, Sloth, and Glut- 
tony, which may be conquered and 
subdued by the proper and faithful 
and persistent practice of these duties. 

1 St. Peter iv, 17, 1 8. 2 Ibid, v, 6. 

[72] 



CHAPTER X 

THE WAY OF CONTRITION 

A broken and a contrite heart, God, shalt Thou 
not despise. Psalm li, 17. 

CONTRITION is a godly sorrow 
for sin, in union with the love of 
God. Suffering and sorrow are marks 
of the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ upon 
the Cross of Calvary was the Great 
Penitent. He died of a broken heart. 
Our Vicar, He suffered for us; He died 
for us, that we might be forgiven. On 
the Cross He made by His own obla- 
tion of Himself, once offered, a full, 
perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, obla- 
tion, and satisfaction for the sins of the 
whole world. By the merits and death 

[73] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

of Jesus Christ, and through faith in 
His blood, we may obtain remission of 
our sins. How wonderful! 

The Holy Ghost convicts us of sin. 
It is the influence of the Divine Spirit 
that moves us to penitence. Again, it 
is Divine Love that melts the stony 
heart and reveals to us the outrage 
which our sins do to the Divine Majesty, 
to the Love of God. What sinner can 
hear unmoved the story of the Cross, 
the story of the great Sacrifice in which 
all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity 
participated, but which reached its cli- 
max and was consummated in the Sac- 
rifice of the Death of Christ? How 
should man's pride be crushed at the 
revelation of the Divine Humiliation. 
Christ pleased not Himself, 1 and pleas- 
ing one's self — pride, is the root of 

1 Rom. xv, 3. 

[74] 



THE WAY OF CONTRITION 

nearly every sin. We love our ease and 
the praise of men, while the way of the 
Cross is a way of pain and humiliation. 
The horror of the Passion we dislike 
to dwell upon. Yet it was all real. 
After the agony in Gethsemane, there 
followed the long hours of that dread- 
ful night, the mocking, the scourging, 
the spitting, the journey to Calvary, 
and the unmitigated tortures of the 
crucifixion. The Hands, the Feet of 
Jesus were crushed and torn by the 
nails, the Head crowned with thorns — 
for us. His voice says to us, these 
Hands, these Feet, this Heart, were 
pierced for thee. Is it nothing to you, 
all ye that pass by? Behold, and see 
if there be any sorrow like unto My 
sorrow? 1 

Contrition is what Saint Paul calls 

1 Lamentations 1, 12. 

[75] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

godly sorrow that worketh repentance 
to salvation not to be repented of. 1 
The sorrow of the world worketh 
death. 2 We see the contrast between 
these two kinds of sorrow in the re- 
pentance of Saint Peter and the remorse 
of Judas. Remorse may only result in 
despair. But contrition, what careful- 
ness it wrought in you, yea, what fear, 
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what 
zeal, yea, what revenge. True con- 
trition instantly creates a desire to do 
something', to make us careful, our 
consciences tender; it induces ac- 
knowledgment of our fault, indigna- 
tion against ourselves, fear lest we 
should fall again, vehement desire to 
love God more, zeal for God, revenge 
— I beat myself black and blue lest, 

1 2 Cor. vii, 10. 

2 Ibid, vii, II. 

[76] 



THE WAY OF CONTRITION 

having preached to others I myself 
should be a castaway. 1 

My God I am sorry that I have 
offended Thee, Who art so good. For- 
give me for Jesus' sake, and I will try 
to sin no more. 

1 1 Cor. ix, 27. 



[77] 



CHAPTER XI 

THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

// we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess 
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins, i St. John i, 8, 9. 

WITHOUT shedding of blood is 
no remission. Confession is 
the blood of sorrow, of that godly sor- 
row that worketh repentance to salva- 
tion. Repentance is not a matter of 
soft sayings, it has no painless method. 
Pain is one of the consequences of sin, 
and its endurance one of the conditions 
of pardon, through the Precious Blood. 
Christ suffered for our sins; we must 
suffer with Him. 

The doctrine of Confession is so 
[78] 






THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

simple that it is strange any difficulty 
has ever been made about it. The 
Sacrament of Penance is the simple 
means provided by our Blessed Lord 
for obtaining forgiveness of sins com- 
mitted after Baptism. It is no more 
difficult to teach this to a Confirma- 
tion class than it is to explain Regen- 
eration, or Holy Orders. There is 
nothing difficult about it. Confession 
is a natural instinct of the human heart. 
Adam and Eve, the first sinners, made 
the first confession. Indeed the Bible 
and Prayer Book are full of this most 
comforting doctrine. The teaching of 
this doctrine is but the reiteration of 
the language of Holy Scripture, Ye 
know that ye were redeemed with the 
Precious Blood of Christ. 1 Every time 
Morning or Evening Prayer is read, we 

1 1 St. Peter 1, 18, 19. 

[79] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

are told that God has given power and 
commandment to his ministers, to de- 
clare and pronounce to His people, 
being penitent, the absolution and re- 
mission of their sins. Could words be 
plainer ? Is there any obscurity about 
that declaration ? In the Prayer Book 
Office for the Visitation of Prisoners, 
the man condemned to death for 
murder is exhorted to make a "par- 
ticular confession of the sin for which 
he is condemned. " The exhortations 
of Morning and Evening Prayer are a 
call to the souls self-condemned by un- 
confessed sins, oftentimes of equal or 
greater guilt, to seek salvation through 
the Precious Blood of Christ. 

The express and particular power of 
absolving sinners from their sins re- 
sides in the priesthood of ministers of 

the apostolic succession. The power 

[80] 



THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

of Absolution is the conspicuous power 
singled out for special mention at the 
time of ordination. This is notable. 
In the Ordinal we read, "Receive the 
Holy Ghost for the office and work of a 
Priest in the Church of God. Whose 
sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven; 
and whose sins thou dost retain, they 
are retained, etc." The Bishop uses 
the same words Christ used in sending 
out the Apostles. They mean just 
what they appear to mean. The black- 
est sinner may receive the assurance 
of his pardon when repentant, the 
official release from the sentence of 
death under which he has passed. 

But is it necessary to confess one's 
sins to a priest? The Church leaves 
the decision chiefly in the hands of the 
sinner. That confession of some sort 

is necessary, is certain. Whether a 

[81] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

true confession is ever made in secret 
to God, is equally uncertain. The 
example of multitudes of holy men and 
women who have made sacramental and 
particular confession a habit of their 
life, cannot be without its special im- 
port. The Church has ever taught the 
power of Absolution. Self-examina- 
tion before Communion is required, as 
we are reminded by the Catechism. 
Without the Godly counsel of a dis- 
creet minister of God's Word, there is 
often grave doubt in the minds of many 
persons whether or not they are in a 
state of grace. How many can them- 
selves tell whether their sin or habits 
of sin are venial or mortal? 

A hard and fast rule for all as to the 
frequency of Confession would be un- 
wise. Many who are making a real 

effort to develop their spiritual life, 

[82] 



THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

both clergy and lay-folk, find monthly 
confession a great help. Some go even 
oftener. Some go once a year, at 
Easter only. Others mark the four Em- 
ber seasons; others the great festivals 
of Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas. 
That the practice of daily self- 
examination and frequent confession 
is practically helpful is the testimony of 
many. Those who frequent this sacra- 
ment must be warned of the neces- 
sity of contrition. One good confession 
a year is better than a dozen perfunc- 
tory acts of penitence. Go just as 
often as the Holy Spirit leads you, and 
in beginning the practice of this salu- 
tary means of grace, regulate your 
practice by the advice of your spiritual 
physician. The priest who fails to 
qualify himself to be a doctor of souls 
will never know one of the greatest 

[83] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

joys of his share in the Eternal Priest- 
hood of our Lord. The conversational 
will never serve for the confessional. 
The soul that has never experienced 
the joy of sacramental absolution has 
missed one of God's greatest gifts to 
man — missed its sensible realization. 
The statement sometimes made, that 
habitual confession weakens the moral 
fibre and is injurious to the formation 
of Christian character, is contradicted 
by the actual experience of priests who 
act as confessors, as well as by their 
penitents. The public statement of a 
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
made many years ago, ably bears this 
assertion out: "I hold that only those 
who have the experience are fit judges 
in the matter. I take my own case. I 
am over sixty years of age. For the 
past thirty years I have been going to 

[84] 



THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

confession, sometimes at long intervals, 
more frequently at shorter ones. I am 
a member of the medical profession, a 
Fellow of my college, a hospital sur- 
geon, and have attained some repute. 
I judge myself to be about the last man 
to be infected with morbid influence. 
My wife and my grown-up children 
go to confession. They none of them 
seem to be affected with mental feeble- 
ness. A vast number of my friends, 
some in my own profession, others 
lawyers, others hard-headed men of 
business, go to confession, and I fail to 
see the dreadful deterioration which is 
set forth. I am an Alpine climber, 
and have the personal acquaintance of 
members of the finest race of men, the 
Swiss guides. They are the most de- 
vout men I know, and they all go to 
confession. The whole thing is a fig- 

[85] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

ment of the brain unsupported by a 
single shred of evidence. " 

As conservative a doctor of souls as 
the late Canon Liddon once wrote a 
friend of the author as follows: 

Christ Church, Oxford. 

Dear Sir: — The question of private con- 
fession is left by our Prayer-book to the decision 
of the individual conscience, and it is difficult 
for any other person to settle, because it must be 
settled in view of a spiritual history known only 
to the soul itself, and to God. 

/ have myself used confession whenever I have 
needed it ever since 1847, and have never re- 
gretted it. I think it braces the soul as nothing 
else does, while the absolution that follows is a 
more direct and peremptory application of the 
Absolving Power left by our Lord to this Church, 
than the more general formulae of the Daily and 
Communion Services. 

I have felt too, as regards my own case, that 
Bishop Butler's general doctrine about the 
"safer" course in questions of conduct points 
distinctly to the practice. 

[86] 



THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

Perhaps, too, it ought to be considered that 
there is some risk in giving up any religious 
practice which has once been adopted. 

In saying this, I do not forget that confession 
is medicine and not food, and is to be used when 
needed, and not as merely a matter of periodical 
propriety, when the conscience feels that no need 
exists. But there is risk, when a person has 
once used confession, in neglecting to use it if 
the conscience suggests it. 

I have a true affection for , whose lan- 
guage you quote, but should doubt whether he 
has ever used confession in his life; and when 
this is the case, a man can only look at the ques- 
tion from one side, and make a priori guesses as 
to what may happen in a contingency of which 
he has no practical knowledge. 

Notwithstanding the finiteness and imper- 
fections of the earthly minister, and the omni- 
science and tenderness of our great High Priest 
in Heaven, the former does, by Christ's Com- 
mission, help us, if we will, to repent and make a 
great moral effort, which is not made so easily 

when we are alone. 

***** 

Ever yours, H. P. Liddon. 

[8 7 ] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

This letter was in reply to one stating 
that the writer had been taught as a 
youth to use Confession, but that for a 
long time he had neglected its use : also 
quoting one whose language had sug- 
gested that it was sufficient to confess 
our sins to our Great High Priest in 
Heaven, without confessing them to an 
earthly priest as well. 

A brilliant young officer of the French 
army once called upon Fenelon, the 
saintly Archbishop of Cambrai. " Mon- 
seigneur," said he, "within a few hours 
I shall face the enemy. Before the 
battle I am rather inclined to confess 
my sins to you; but I should first like 
to hear from your lips the proofs which 
establish the divinity of confession. " 
"Very well/' said the affable prelate, 
"I am willing. As it is natural, how- 
ever, in all matters to take the shortest 

[88] 



THE WAY OF CONFESSION 

road, confess yourself first, and perhaps 
after that you may let me off some of 
the proofs." "But," stammered his 
client, "the process is unscientific, if 
one has to practice confession in order 
to know the motives for confessing." 
"That may be all well enough," replied 
the Archbishop, "but in practice you 
will find the process to be of unques- 
tionable efficacy. Yield then to my 
age and experience, if not to your own 
conviction, and in case, when you have 
done, you relieve me from the task of 
arguing the question, we shall have 
saved two hours, which we owe, you to 
France, and I to the Church." Need- 
less to say, the confession was made. 

And Joshua said unto Achan, My 
son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord 
God of Israel, and make confession unto 
him; and tell me now what thou hast 

[89] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

done; hide it not from me. * Sinners, 
you may know that you are forgiven. 
Satan always 

" trembles when he sees 

The weakest saint upon his knees." 

O God, show me my sin. O God, make 
me sorry for my sin. O God, forgive 
me my sin. 

Note. — Seekers after truth may profit by read- 
ing Exodus xxxii, 8; Levit. v, 5; Psalm xxxii, 5; Levit. 
xvi, 21 ; xxvi, 40; Numbers v, 7; Job xxxi, 33; St. John 
xx, 23; Prov. xxviii, 13; St. James v, 16; Acts xix, 18. 

1 Joshua vii, 19. 



[90] 



CHAPTER XII 

THE WAY OF AMENDMENT: SATISFAC- 
TION AND REPARATION 

Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? Acts ix, 
66. 

THE third part of repentance is 
amendment — sometimes called 
satisfaction. In the very act of con- 
fession we have performed a duty which 
has become imperative to our own sense 
of justice, we have acknowledged our 
guilt, we have unburdened our con- 
science, we have gained self-knowledge. 
Now we are prepared to be more watch- 
ful over our lives, we feel better pre- 
pared to meet the dangers put in our 
way by our adversary. We have 

[91] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

learned that our Lord's mercy extends 
until seventy times seven and yet we 
have put a check upon our laxity. 

Then there has sprung up within us 
a desire to endure ourselves some suffer- 
ing for our sin; a desire to perform 
some act of loving service to God as an 
earnest of our contrition ; and a willing- 
ness to expiate, in some way, part of the 
consequences of our sin. We are only 
too well aware that Jesus only could 
make satisfaction for our sins; that the 
Sacrifice of Calvary was a full, perfect, 
and complete satisfaction for the sins 
of the whole world. We know that He 
died that we might be forgiven, that He 
is our Peace. But a Christian, when he 
learns to love his Lord, desires to help 
bear His Cross, and with desire, desires 
like St. Paul, to fill up that which is be- 
hind of the afflictions of Christ in his 

[92] 



THE WAY OF AMENDMENT 

flesh for His body's sake, which is 
the Church. 1 We sometimes hurt and 
wound those we love here, and when 
we are sorry our first thought is, what 
can I do to show that I am sorry? 
Compare the sorrow sometimes felt 
when we have come to a realization of 
wrong done to an earthly friend, with 
the debt we owe to the loving God 
whose patience is the patience of the 
Eternal — and our hearts fail us. What 
reward shall I give unto the Lord for 
all the benefits that he hath done unto 
me ? 2 A little child grieves his mother's 
love and brings to her a wild-flower 
from the field, to show her he is sorry. 
How often that or something similar has 
happened. Contrition is a sorrow that 
stays by you, all your life long. You 
know that you have been reconciled, 

1 Col. i, 25. 2 Psalm cxvi, II. 

[93] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

forgiven. The shame and guilt of your 
sin have been taken away, you have 
been healed of your sickness, but you 
must do your penance — in some way 
make your own reparation, take up thy 
bed, and go thy way. 1 I have sinned, 
and Jesus has made satisfaction for my 
sin; we say with Job, what shall I do 
unto Thee, O thou preserver of men ? 2 
Often has the opportunity of making 
reparation or restitution to one we have 
injured been lost, or made impossible 
by death. Then perhaps nothing re- 
mains for us but some special observ- 
ance of one or more of the three notable 
duties, prayer, fasting, and almsgiv- 
ing. It is in the practice of penance, 
in making our acts of satisfaction or 
reparation, that we realize the sweet- 
ness of ministering to Christ — we find 

1 St. Mark ii, n. 2 Jab vii, 20. 

[94] 



THE WAY OF AMENDMENT 

Him beneath the beggar's rags or in 
some sick child : Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 1 
God expects us to do what we can. 
Amendment is love in action. 

1 St. Matt, xxv, 40. 



[95] 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE WAY OF PERSEVERANCE 

He that endureth to the end shall be saved. St. 
Matt, x, 22. 

THE way of the Holy Cross is 
straight and narrow; it is the way 
of sacrifice. It is a way that taxes one's 
endurance, and that requires diligence 
and perseverance to reach the end. 
Endurance — of trial and temptation, 
of sorrow and pain, of hope deferred. 
Diligence — constant carefulness, and 
attention, and earnest effort, persistent 
exertion of body and mind; industry, 
assiduity. We must always be choos- 
ing the way of the Cross instead of an 
easier way. Perseverance is persistence. 

[96] 



THE WAY OF PERSEVERANCE 

He that endureth to the end shall be 
saved. 1 Christ put away sin by the 
sacrifice of Himself. 2 He came to do 
His Father's will: which to Him was 
meat and drink. On the Cross He was 
able to say, It is finished. 3 Even 
"The gray-haired saint may fall at last," 

so our daily prayer must be for the 
grace of perseverance. "Perfection 
consists not in doing extraordinary 
things, but in doing ordinary things ex- 
traordinarily well." The dull routine 
and monotony of life sometimes are apt 
to cloud the spiritual faculties, but he 
will best find God who does his daily 
duty in that state of life to which it has 
pleased God to call him. A Christian 
is like the centurion — he is a man 
under authority. He is a steward of 

1 St. Matt, x, 22. 2 Heb. ix, 26. 

3 St. John xix, 30. 

[973 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

talents committed to him. He must 
himself earn their product. We have 
the assurance of daily strength for daily- 
needs, As thy days so shall thy strength 
be. 1 "Onward, ever onward," must 
be our daily progress. As the Chris- 
tian goes on he should daily draw 
nearer to his home. The progress of 
life is from grace to glory; glory will be 
the crown of grace. Life at its best is 
short, but as it passes, the soul that is 
seeking righteousness will find Jesus 
in many a trysting place. The spirit 
of Christ was given us at our Bap- 
tism: it has been renewed in us in every 
good Communion. In our moments of 
greatest weakness and direst need He 
strengthens us. God hath chosen the 
foolish things of the world to confound 
the wise; and God hath chosen the 

1 Deut. xxxiii, 25. 

[98] 



THE WAY OF PERSEVERANCE 

weak things of the world to confound 
the things which are mighty. 1 

Saint Augustine says that the life of 
a perfect Christian is nothing else than 
the going ever forward in the practice 
of virtue, under the impulse of holy 
aspirations. Our first efforts are those 
of beginners, we travel along the pur- 
gative way; we are at war with our 
passions and we are weak in virtue. 
All our time is occupied in purifying 
ourselves from habits of sin, and little 
by little we reach the second stage and 
enter upon the illuminative way, we 
learn to persevere courageously; Faith, 
Hope and Love become active prin- 
ciples in our daily conduct; we find 
that we have gained control over many 
of our evil habits. Lastly, the Chris- 
tian enters into the unitive way in which 

1 I Cor. i, 27. 

[99] 

LOFC 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

he realizes more and more fully his 
union with God and finds himself 
master of himself. Saint Thomas 
Aquinas illustrates this, same progress 
by comparing it with the growth of the 
human body, infancy, youth, and man- 
hood, the development taking place 
gradually and almost imperceptibly. 
"So true is it, that Christian perfection 
knows no halting-place, and that he is 
the most perfect who ever aspires to 
greater perfection." And St. Bernard 
says, "Perfection rightly understood is 
nothing else than untiring endeavour 
to improve, a ceaseless striving after 
perfection." 



[ioo] 



s 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE WAY OF MYSTERY 

The mystery of godliness. I St. Tim. 111, 16. 

AINT PAUL uses the word mys- 



tery as meaning a truth which was 
at first hidden and afterwards revealed. 
Mystery is fact translated into the 
language of Eternity. The word comes 
from meaning "to be shut or closed. " 
Life is a mystery; so is death; so is 
godliness; so is the life of a Christian. 
The mystery of Godliness is a divine 
paradox. Each discovery opens up a 
new mystery. Now we see through 
a glass darkly; but then face to face: 
now I know in part; but then shall I 
know even as also I am known. 1 Such 

1 I Cor. xiii, 12. 
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THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

shall be our ultimate understanding of 
hidden things. 

Regeneration is a mystery. We must 
all be born again. But the wind 
bloweth where it listeth and thou hear- 
est the sound thereof, but canst not 
tell whence it cometh and whither it 
goeth: so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit. 1 Regeneration is not to be 
confused with Conversion. The Church 
teaches, as did our Lord, the necessity 
of conversion also. Except ye be con- 
verted and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the Kingdom of 
heaven. 2 Does not our conversion 
really begin at our baptism, and is not 
conversion a succession of acts of the 
will, by which the heart turns again and 
again to God, finding, following, keep- 
ing, struggling, and ever finding God 

1 St. John iii, 8. 2 St. Matt, xviii, 3. 

[102] 



THE WAY OF MYSTERY 

sure to bless ? The fatherhood of God 
is best appreciated in this process of 
conversion. We soon find that ours 
is that frail human nature which can- 
not always stand upright, 1 and that we 
are sore let and hindered in running 
the race that is set before us. 2 But as 
we fall we learn that our heavenly Father 
pities us, 3 that His mercy is from ever- 
lasting, 4 as again and again He grants 
us that strength and protection which 
supports us in all dangers, and carries 
us through all temptations. 5 We are 
sealed with the Christian character. We 
are signed with the Cross at our baptism. 
The character of a soldier of the Cross 
is impressed upon us, only more deeply, 

at our Confirmation. We should always 

1 Collect IV Epiphany. 3 Psalm ciii, 13. 

2 Collect IV Advent. 4 Ibid, ciii, 17. 

5 Collect, Epiphany. 

[I03l 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

remember our sacramental character. 
Each soul is a coin in the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ. At the end we shall be 
saved if we bear in our bodies the marks 
of the Lord Jesus. 1 This is the language 
of mystery; we learn to interpret it our- 
selves, with advancing years. 

So with the mystery of the Precious 
Blood, sprinkled in absolution upon 
the soul of the penitent. A soul may 
become dead in trespasses and sin. 2 
But the Saviour came to seek and to 
save that which was lost; 3 to raise the 
dead. The house is swept for the lost 
coin. 4 Come from the four winds, O 
Breath, and breathe upon these slain 
that they may live. 5 Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit combine in the effort to 

1 Cal. i, 17. 3 St. Luke xix, 10. 

2 Ephes. ii, 1. 4 St. Luke xv. 

5 Ezek. xvii. 
[104] 



THE WAY OF MYSTERY 

restore the wanderer, and in Heaven 
itself there is joy over one sinner that 
repenteth. 1 What divine extravagance 
there is in the wonderful hope for sin- 
ners held out in our Lord's words, Until 
seventy times seven. 2 Pardon through 
the Precious Blood is a great mystery, 
but it is a fact. 

The Catholic Religion is a religion 
of mystery. The Mystery of the In- 
carnation, the mystery of iniquity, 3 the 
Mystery of the Redemption, the Mys- 
tery of the Blessed Trinity, the mys- 
tery of the New Birth, the mystery of 
the Real Presence — all beyond the 
ken of man. So is the mystery of God 
Eternal — the only-begotten Son which 
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath 
declared Him. 4 

1 St. Luke xv, 10. 3 2 Thess. 11, 7. 

2 St. Matt, xviii, 22. A St. John 1, 18. 

[105] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

So is the Mystery of Godliness great. 
The life of a Christian as it ought to be, 
is a life that is itself a living sermon, 
preaching fully the Word of God ; even 
the mystery which hath been hid from 
ages and from generations, but now is 
made manifest to His saints: to whom 
God would make known what is the 
riches of the glory of this mystery among 
the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, 
the hope of glory: Whom we preach, 
warning every man, and teaching every 
man in all wisdom that we may pre- 
sent every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 
whereunto I also labour, striving ac- 
cording to his working, which worketh 
in me mightily. 1 Ye are complete in 
Him 2 — in Whom are hid all the treas- 
ures of wisdom and knowledge. 3 As 

1 Col. i, 25-29. 2 Col. 11, 10. 

3 Col. it, 3. 

[106] 



THE WAY OF MYSTERY 

we go on in the Christian life, divine 
mysteries become unfolded to us like 
the petals of a beautiful flower. The 
way of mystery is like a path through a 
tropical forest ; on every side are orchids 
and rare plants, beautiful and fragrant. 
All the ceremonial or ritual life of 
the Church is mystical. Each act of 
symbolism has its especial significance. 
It is the outward expression oj love. 
As Faith without works is dead, 1 so 
ceremonial without love is dead, also. 
As our sense of the reality of the 
efficacy of sacraments becomes quick- 
ened, the faculty of worship is aroused, 
and an outlet is sought through which 
we can offer our homage to God. 
"Ritual is the vestment of sacramental 
faith." Were ceremonial practised for 
any other purpose than the glory and 

1 St. James 11, 20. 
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THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

honour of God, e.g., for the mere edi- 
fication of the faithful, it might serve 
a purpose, but it would have no per- 
manency, because its end would be 
merely human. Ceremonial has three 
great functions or aspects: it is a sacri- 
fice, a safeguard, and a lesson. 1 As a 
sacrifice, every function we possess, 
both of body and spirit, is pressed into 
service. As a safeguard, ceremonial is 
for the protection of the ancient faith, 
and it is best rendered where the hidden 
worship of the human heart is deepest. 
And as to its instructive function, cere- 
monial would teach all the senses what 
the voice teaches through the ear; 
through it even infants may learn some- 
thing about the things of God. Cere- 
monial has always been an expression 
of faith and love, and it consecrates 

1 See Essay on Ceremonial by T. H. Passmore. 

[108] 



THE WAY OF MYSTERY 

all that is fair and beautiful, the best 
creations of every craft and talent and 
art, to the service of the King. The 
text with which we are all so familiar, 
O worship the Lord in the beauty of 
holiness, 1 more adequately and accu- 
rately translated is, O worship the Lord 
in beautiful garments. 

1 Psalms xcvi, 9. 



[109] 



CHAPTER XV 

THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY 

Continuing daily with one accord. Acts ii, 46. 

SO the soul goes on to God. 
The life of a Christian is a life of 
sacramental progress. It is a life of 
faith, of hope, and of love. It is a life 
of prayer and service. It is a life of 
contrition. It is a life of work. It is a 
life in which, as one goes along every- 
day, he ascends the ladder of the spirit- 
ual life, through purgation to illumina- 
tion and so onward, until he reaches 
the unitive way and becomes holy and 
perfect even as his Father in Heaven is 
perfect. 
It is a life that never will be free 

[HO] 



THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY 

from the necessities of its earthly con- 
dition or the requirements of its frail 
humanity. There will be times of sick- 
ness, when recourse to the tribunal of 
penance will provide the medicine by 
which the soul may be healed. There 
will be constant need of daily bread, 
food for the struggle, and that food 
will always be found in the Bread 
of the Sacrament. In the most Holy 
Sacrament of the Altar, will be found 
the never-failing measure of meal, the 
cruse of oil that is never dried up, the 
well of living water of life to be freely 
drunk. Whoso eateth My Flesh, and 
drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life; 
and I will raise them up at the last 
day. 1 

Grace for every need, strength for the 
day, rest for the night, the companion- 

1 St. John vi, 54. 

[in] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

ship of saints and angels — all this and 
more awaits him who will try to pattern 
his life after the model of the life of 
Jesus our Lord. 

The Catholic Religion is not for one 
nation or people. It is Catholic be- 
cause, while never changing, it accom- 
modates itself to every people, nation, 
and language; it is old yet ever new. 
Its faith is a faith grounded on eternal 
facts. Christ died for all. His body 
spiritual can comprehend literally all 
sorts and conditions of men. The Cath- 
olic Religion assures men of their ulti- 
mate salvation, provided they walk in 
the ways of truth and study the walls 
of Zion. 

The Catholic Church is a living and 
ever tender mother, who cares for her 
children day and night, in sickness and 
in health, for better, for worse, for 

[112] 



THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY 

richer, for poorer, from the cradle to 
the grave. How great, then, should be 
the love and devotion of the child for 
that patient mother. As a young man 
marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons 
marry thee, and as the bridegroom re- 
joiceth over the bride, so shall thy God 
rejoice over thee. 1 

This is the way for every day. Every 
day consecrated to God, begun and 
ended with prayer and praise. Every 
night finding the pilgrim, 

" A day's march nearer home," 

until the days of his pilgrimage are 
ended and he finds himself at the gate 
of the City Beautiful. The daily life of 
a Christian must be a life in which the 
notable duties of prayer, fasting, and 
almsgiving each have their respective 

1 Isaiah lxii, 5. 

[»3] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

and proportionate place. It must be 
a life in which the Cross of Christ is 
daily borne. It must be a life with a 
definite purpose, striving after the real- 
ization of a true vocation. The daily 
question, Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do ? shall receive its answer. It 
must be a life free from extravagances 
and excesses of every sort. Daily self- 
examination and acts of love and con- 
trition mark the life of a Christian. 

The Bible should be the best known 
and the best loved book in every house- 
hold. There is a beauty, a simplicity 
and a grandeur about the language of 
Holy Writ which never lose their subtle 
charm, which again and anon enthrall 
the ear and delight the soul. Thy word 
is a lantern unto my feet: and a light 
unto my paths. 1 Lord, what love have 

1 Psalm cxix, 105. 



THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY 

I unto Thy law: all the day long is my 
study in it. 1 

Wheresoever the carcase is, there 
will the eagles be gathered together. 2 
The life of a Christian will be an 
Eucharistic life. At the Altar we par- 
take of the worthiness of Jesus present 
in His Blessed Sacrament, to be our 
food and stay. As that life goes on we 
may learn at least to say, This shall be 
my rest for ever: here will I dwell for 
I have a delight therein. 3 No Sunday, 
no holy day, will pass without finding 
the traveller stopping at that Inn, 
where he shall find food and refresh- 
ment, and where, by renewed com- 
munion with his Saviour, he shall enter 
more and more into the joy of his 
Lord. One good communion is the best 

1 Ibid, cxix, 97. 2 St. Matt, xxix, 28. 

3 Psalm cxxxii, 15. 

[115] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

preparation for the next. Weekly com- 
munion is found to be a practice within 
the compass of many souls. Try it. 
Blessed are they which do hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, for they shall 
be filled. 1 For righteousness read Jesus. 
Under proper direction, daily com- 
munion during a season like Lent is 
quite permissible as well as at other 
times. Anniversaries and holy days 
might well be so observed. We yet 
have to learn that holy days are Holy 
days of obligation to be at least present 
at Mass. 

Little by little a life lived so, will 
develop and expand until at length 
it approaches the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ. 2 Prayer will 
be a delight to us. Fasting and ab- 
stinence will no longer be obsolete 

1 St. Matt, v, 6. 2 Ephes. iv, 13. 

[n6] 



THE WAY FOR EVERY DAY 

words, and almsgiving will exact from 
us the question, not how little, but how 
much can I give ? We adorn our 
houses with a lavish hand when we 
have means, while God's house is often 
bare and cold. Learn to make repara- 
tion to God by gifts of Love. 

"There was a man, some say that he was mad, 
The more he gave away the more he had." 

Pray for such madness, it is divine. 
Give with your heart, and so minister 
to your self, your neighbour, and to 
Him who had not where to lay His 
head. 

The way for every day is a way lived 
in the daily, perpetual Presence of God 
— the loving God who can do no evil 
thing — Who is ever speaking to His 
children and saying, I have covered 
thee in the shadow of My hand, 1 and, 

1 Isa. li, 16. 

[117] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

I will go before you 1 and make the 
crooked places straight, I will break in 
pieces the doors of brass and will cut 
in sunder the bars of iron : and I will 
give thee treasures of darkness, and 
hidden riches of secret places, that thou 
mayest know that I the Lord, which 
call thee by thy name, am the God of 
Israel. 2 

1 St. Matt, xxvi, 32. 

2 Isa. xlv, 2, 3. 



[n8] 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE CROWN 

Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take 
thy crown. Rev. iii, II. 

THERE are two Greek words 
in the New Testament having 
crown for their English equivalent — 
diadema and Stephanos. The diadem 
was a band or fillet of blue worked 
with white, which went around the tiara 
of the kings of Persia; in other words, 
the kingly crown. The Stephanos was 
the crown or wreath awarded the victor 
in the public games — the palma, or 
garland, given as a prize, the wearing 
of which denoted a conqueror. It is 
the Stephanos, the crown of glory and 

[119] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

honour, that the Christian is warned 
not to lose. We are to hold fast to that 
which we have won after many a hard- 
fought fight against our spiritual foes. 
We are so to run the race that is set 
before us, that we may at last obtain 
the prize. And what a prize! Not a 
garland of laurel or of olive, not a 
material wreath of golden leaves, but a 
crown that shall never perish, the glo- 
rious lustre of which shall never fade 
or grow dim. Saint Paul was caught 
up to the third heaven and heard un- 
speakable words, which it is not law- 
ful for a man to utter. We are to be 
the joy and crown of all saints who 
have gone before. They who succeed 
in overcoming the world shall receive 
the crown of righteousness and glory, 
the crown of deathless life. To win the 

crown we must bear the Cross in ordi- 

[120] 



THE CROWN 



nary life, not a Cross of our choosing, 
but in whatever way and of whatever 
weight God pleases. He alone knows 
our strength and our weakness. Thou 
therefore endure hardness, as a good 
soldier of Jesus Christ. . . . And if a 
man strive for masteries, yet is he not 
crowned, except he strive lawfully. . . . 
Study to show thyself approved unto 
God, a workman that needeth not to be 
ashamed. 1 

Heaven is the vision of God; it is 
where God is. Heaven begins here 
as we come to see Him and know Him 
for ourselves. He reveals Himself to 
us severally. As we bear the fruit of 
good works in our life here, we glorify 
God, and win that joy no man taketh 
from us. Amid sorrow and trial and 
difficulty we take courage as we see the 

1 ii S.Tim. 11,3,5, *5- 

[121] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

face of the first martyr Stephen, as it 
had been the face of an angel. 1 In 
the hour of temptation we recall that 
when the Captain of our salvation was 
tempted, angels came and ministered 
unto Him. 2 Surely there are times in 
the experience of every human life 
when one knows that he has been suc- 
coured by those who do always behold 
the Father's Face. The saints and 
holy angels who are our unseen com- 
panions now, a great cloud of witnesses, 3 
shall continue to be our friends in the 
life of the world to come. Our eyes 
shall see the King in His beauty. 4 
Sorrow and pain, sickness and death, 
shall be no more, and we shall walk 
the streets of the celestial country, 
clothed in white raiment, which is the 

1 Acts vi, 15. 3 Heb. xii, 1. 

2 St. Matt, iv, 11. 4 Isaiah xxxiii, 17. 

[122] 



THE CROWN 



righteousness of saints. 1 Blessed are 
they that do His commandments, that 
they may have right to the tree of life, 
and may enter in through the gates 
into the City. 2 

"I seek for Jesus, in respose 

When round my heart its chambers close; 

Abroad, and when I shut the door, 

I long for Jesus evermore. 

With Mary in the morning gloom 

I seek for Jesus at the tomb: 

For Him with love's most earnest cry 

I seek with heart and not with eye." 

1 Rev. xix, 8. 

2 Rev. xxii, 14. 



[ 123 j 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 



THE HOLY NAME 

"Jesus, altogether lovely, 
Thy Name is the only true prayer; 
There is no adding to it. 
Jesus, 
my hand was held by Thee, 
then is my hand Thy Hand. 
In handling, touching, writing, working, nurs- 
ing, distributing, 
keep my hand sacred as Thy Hand. 
Jesus, 
my lips have tasted Thee, 
then are my lips Thy lips. 
In speaking, praying teaching, eating, breath- 
ing, reading, singing, 
keep my lips sacred as Thy lips. 

Jesus, 

let this be the day without sin, 

a day like one of Thy days. 

Let this day Salvation come to me. 

Let the beginning and the end be 

Jesus!" 

— By a Religious, 



[124] 



THE CROWN 



THE EMERALD 

"The gem, to which the artist did entrust, 

That Face which now outshines the Cherubim, 
Gave up full willingly its emerald dust, 

To take Christ's likeness, to make room for 
Him. 
So must it be, if thou wouldst bear about 

Thy Lord — thy shining surface must be 
lowered, 
Thy goodly prominence be chipt and scored, 
Till those deep scars have brought the fea- 
tures out: 

Sharp be the stroke and true, make no com- 
plaints; 

For heavenly lines thou givest earthy grit. 
But oh, how oft our coward spirit faints, 

When we are called our jewels to submit 
To this keen graver, which so oft has writ 

The Saviour's image on His wounded saints." 

— Charles Tennyson Turner. 



[125] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

O happy Flowers! O happy Flowers! 
How quietly for hours and hours, 
In dead of night, in cheerful day, 
Close to my own dear Lord you stay, 
Until you gently fade away. 
O happy flowers! What would I give 
In yon sweet place all day to live, 
And then to die, my service o'er, 
Softly, as you do, at His door ? 

O happy Lights! O happy Lights! 
Watching my Jesus livelong nights; 
How close you cluster round His throne, 
Dying so meekly one by one, 
As each its faithful watch has done. 
Could I with you but take my turn, 
And burn with love of Him, and burn 
Till love had wasted me like you, 
Sweet Lights! What better could I do? 

O happy Pyx! O happy Pyx! 

Where Jesus doth His Dwelling fix; 

O little palace! dear and bright, 

Where He, Who is the world's true Light, 

[126] 



THE CROWN 



Spends all the day, and stays all night, 
Ah! if my heart could only be 
A little home for Him like thee, 
Such fires my happy soul would move, 
I could not help but die of love! 

O Pyx, and Lights, and Flowers! but I 

Through envy of you will not die! 

Nay, happy things! what will you do, 

Since I am better off than you, 

The whole day long, the whole night thro' ? 

For Jesus gives Himself to me, 

So sweetly and so utterly, 

By rights long since I should have died, 

For love of Jesus Crucified. 

My happy Soul! my happy Soul! 
How shall I then my love control ? 
O sweet Communion! Feast of bliss! 
When the dear Host my tongue doth kiss, 
What happiness is like to this ? 
Oh, Heaven, I think, must be alway 
Quite like a First Communion Day, 
With love so sweet and joy so strange — 
Only that Heaven will never change! 

— F. W. Faber. 
[127] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 



HYMN 

My Lord, my Master, at Thy Feet adoring, 
I see Thee bowed beneath Thy load of woe; 

For me, a sinner, is Thy Life-Blood pouring; 
For thee, my Saviour, scarce my tears will 
flow. 

Thine own disciple to the Jews has sold Thee, 

With Friendship's kiss and loyal word he 
came; 
How oft of fruitful love my lips have told Thee, 

While Thou hast seen my falsehood and my 

shame. 

With taunts and scoffs they mock what seems 
Thy weakness, 
With blows and outrage adding pain to pain; 
Thou art unmoved and steadfast in Thy meek- 
ness; 
When I am wrong'd how quickly I complain! 

My Lord, my Saviour, when I see Thee wearing 
Upon Thy bleeding brow the crown of thorn, 

Shall I for pleasure live, or shrink from bearing 
Whate'er my lot may be of pain or scorn ? 

[128] 



THE CROWN 



O Victim of Thy love! O pangs most healing! 

saving Death! O wounds that I adore! 
O shame most glorious! Christ, before Thee 

kneeling 

1 pray Thee keep me Thine for evermore. 

— Anonymous. 

VISION OF THE WOUNDS 

"Two Hands have haunted me for days, 

Two Hands of slender shape, 
All crushed and torn, as in the press 

Is bruised the purple grape; 
At work or meals, at prayer or play, 

The mangled Palms I see; 
And a plaintive Voice keeps whispering, 

'These Hands were pierced for thee.' 

For me, sweet Lord, for me ? 

Yea, even so, ungrateful one, 

These Hands were pierced for thee!' 

"Through toil and dangers pressing on, 

As through a fiery flood, 
Two tender Feet beside my own, 

Mark every step with blood; 
The swollen Veins, so rent with nails, 

It breaks my heart to see, 
[129] 



THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN 

While the same Voice cries out afresh, 
' These Feet were pierced for thee!' 
For me, dear Christ, for me ? 
'Yea, even so, rebellious flesh, 
These Feet were pierced for thee.' 

"As on we journey to the close, 

These wounded Feet and mine, 
Distincter still the Vision grows, 

And more and more Divine; 
For in my guide's wide-open side, 

The cloven Heart I see, 
And the tender Voice sobs like a psalm, 

'This heart was pierced for thee!' 

For me, great God, for me ? 

'Yea, enter in, my love, my lamb, 

This Heart was pierced for thee." 

— Anonymous. 

THIS IS PEACE 

"To conquer love of self and lust of life; 
To tear deep-rooted passion from the breast; 
To still the inward strife; 

To lay up lasting treasure 
Of perfect service rendered, duties done 
In charity, soft speech and stainless days: 
[130] 



THE CROWN 



These riches shall not fade away in life, 
Nor any death dispraise." 

— Sir Edwin Arnold. 

BE STRONG 

Be strong! We are not here to play, to dream, 

to drift. 
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift; 
Shun not the struggle; face it. 'Tis God's gift: 

Be strong! 

Say not the days are evil, — Who's to blame ? 

And fold the hands and acquiesce — O shame! 
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name: 
Be strong! 

It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong, 
How hard the battle goes, the day how long; 

Faint not, fight on! 

To-morrow comes the song. 

— Malthie W. Babcock. 



[131] 



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